Bundle tie tool

ABSTRACT

A tool is disclosed for tightening a strap around a bundle of wires or the like, the tool having finger grips for drawing the strap to a tightened position and further having means for severing the excess portion of the bundle strap after the tightening operation.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Brohawn 140/932 Benfer May 14, 1974 BUNDLE TIE TOOL V [76] Inventor: David Van Dike Benfer, 131 Pr'mary Examm?r L9we" lfarson Ridgeview Dr., Marysville, Pa. Attorney Agent r w V. ?lzlll [22] Filed: Feb. 21, 1973 [21] pp 57 ABSTRACT 52 us. Cl. 140/123.6 140/932 A is discbsed tightening a strap amund 51 Int. Cl B21f 9/02 dle of Wires or the like, the having finger grips for [58] Field or Search 140/93 A 93.2 123.5 drawing the Strap to a tightened and further- I 140/ 123'6'254/5 having means for severing the excess portion of the bundle strap after the tightening operation. [56] References Cited 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures l BUNDLE TIE oo BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a hand operated tool which may be used for applying a strap around a bundle of wires'or similar objects. It isnormal practice in the electronics industry to secure groups of wires together in order to form discrete bundles. There are several types of bundling straps which are known for accomplishing this function. One of the fairly common types of straps includes an elongated plastic member which has an enlarged head at one end for receiving the opposite end of the strap and for locking a portion of the strap within the head. It is also known to provide manually operated tools which function to tighten the strap around the-bundle of wires'and to subsequently sever the excess portion of the strap. Most of these tools have the disadvantage that they employ complex mechanisms' and are expensive to purchase. Another drawback of such tools is that they normally employ a cutter mechanism which is operated automatically when the strap is tightened around a bundle so that the operator has no choice as to whether or not he wishes the excess strap to be removed.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the above objects, the tool of the present invention comprises a pair of finger grip members attached to a drawbar assembly which is reciprocable to effect tightening of a bundle strap. A separate handle is also provided and is pivotally operable to effect severing of the bundle strap when such is desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES In the drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts: i

FIG. I is an overall top view of a tool constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the tool of FIG. 1 showing various details of the component parts of the tool; I

FIG. 3 is a side view partly in section showing the tool in its position at the beginning of a tightening operation;

FIG. 4 is a side view partly in section similar to FIG. 3 and showing the tool in its position at the end of a tightening operation; and

FIG. 5 is a side view partly in section showing the tool in its strap cutting position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION With. reference now to the drawings there is shown a tool indicated generally at and comprising a pair of side rails 12 and 14 which are generally elongated and which terminate at one end in handle portions 16-and 18 respectively. The handle portions are designed to be conveniently placed in the palm of an operators hand in a manner such as shown in FIG. 1. The handles may The rails 12 and 14 are maintained in generally parallel relationship by means of a'pair of pins 24 and 26. The forward pin 24 passes through the rails 12 and 14 and also passes through an aperture 28 located in a cutter lever 30 disposed between the rails. The pin 26 passes through the rails 12 and 14 and also through a spacer 32, the spacer serving tomaintain parallelism between the rails. The pins 24 and 26 are maintained in position by an upsetting, or similar, operation.

The forward end of rail 14 is bent at generally right angles to define an anvil 34. Secured to the forward side of anvil 34 is a spacer plate 36 having a slot 38 therein for accepting a bundle strap in a manner to be described hereafter. I

The cutter lever 30 extends between and below the rails 12 and 14 and is pivotable about pin 24. A handle portion 40 is provided and is designed to be engaged by an operators finger in order to pivot the cutter lever. The forward end of the cutter lever is bent at right angles as indicated at 42 and has a sharpened lower surface 44 which constitutes the strap cutter. Pivotal movement oflever 30 about pin 28 will cause the cutter.

44 to rotate against anvil 34 in order to effect asevering operation. The strap tightening operation is performed by means of a slide assembly 46, as bestlshown in FIG. 2 The assembly comprises a slide 48 which is disposed over the rails 12 and 14 and has a pair of finger grips 50 disposed at its rearward end. The slide 48 may be provided with dimples 49 or other equivalent means for riding along the upper surface of rails 12 and 14. A pair of dimples 52 (only one of which is shown) are disposed in opposed faces of the slide 48 and cooperate with the lower edges of rails 12 and 14 for maintainingthe slide in position thereon. The forward end of slide 48 is provided with an aperture 54 for receiving the tensioning pawl assembly 56. The pawl assembly comprises a pawl 58 having a serrated gripping surface 60 thereon, the pawl being normally biased in a counted-clockwise direction (as viewed in FIG. 3) by means of a spring 62. Other equivalent biasing arrangements will be obvious to those skilled in the art. A retainer pin 64 extends through the pawl 56 and the spring 62 and is secured to the slide at aperture 54. Pawl 56 is pivotable about pin 64 and cooperates with a pressure surface 66 for grip'pinga bundle strap therebetween. Pin

64 is disposed below the lower surface of siderail 12 to thereby maintain the slide assembly in position on the rails. The entire slide assembly 46 is reciprocable along the rails and is normally biased in a forward direction (to the left as seen in FIG. 3) by means of'a spring 68.

The extent of travel of the slide assembly is limited in the forward direction by engagement between pin 24 tion and is also provided with a deflector face 74 which a suitable grip 78 may be positioned over the handle 40 to assist the operator in using the tool.

The operation of the tool will now be described. A strap 80 is wrapped around a bundle of wires or similar objects and the tail end of the strap is fed through the head portion to a position where the strap is loosely surrounding the bundle. The tail portion of thestrap is passed through the slot 38 in the spacer plate and over the anvil 34 and between the pawl 58 and pressure surface 66. The strap will pass readily between the pawl and the pressure surface because the slide assembly will be in its forward position and the pawl will be held out of operative position by means of the pin 24 (see FIG.

' 3). The strap is then passed over the guide 72 and against the deflector 74 to the position as shown in FIG. 3. The tool is grasped by an operator in the manner shown in FIG. 1. The operator will then draw the slide assembly to the right by means of the finger grips 50 and as soon as the pawl is moved away from pin 24 the pawl will move counter-clockwise under the influence of spring 62 to firmly grasp the strap between the pawl and the pressure surface 66. Movement of the slide assembly to the right will cause tightening of the strap since the head of the strap will be held against the spacer plate 36 and cannot pass through the slot 38. The tightening will continue until the operator determines that the tension in the strap has reached the proper value, at which time the strap will be in the position shown in FIG. 4. Movement of the slide also causes pin 64 to engage the cut off lever to position the lever as shown in FIG. 4. This insures that the lever has not pivoted to a position which is beyond the normal extent of the operators hand. The operator will then rotate cutter lever 30 in a counter-clockwise direction causing the cutter 44 to move against anvil 34 to sever the strap. The completed tie will be free from the tool as shown in FIG. 5 and the excess strap portion can be easily removed from the tool and discarded. The excess strap portion is temporarily retained in the tool by means of pawl 56, guide 72 and deflector 74 so that the operator may grasp the strap portion and discard it. If the operator does not wish to sever the excess strap portion, he can simply slide the tool off the strap since there will be no gripping force exerted by the pawl 56 with the slide assembly in its forward position.

What is claimed is:

l. A tool for applying a strap to a bundle of wires or the like, comprising a pair of elongated, generally parallel rail members, handle means formed at one end of said rail members, a slide assembly mounted on said rail members for reciprocable movement therealong, strap gripping means mounted on the forward portion of said slide assembly, manually graspable means formed on the rearward portion of said slide assembly and disposed forwardly of said handle means, spring means biasing said slide assembly to a forward position, and means disposed at the forward end of one of said rail members and positioned to engage a head portion of a bundle strap.

2. A tool as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a cutting lever pivotally mounted on said rail members adjacent their forward end and having a handle portion located toward said graspable means.

3. A tool as set forth in claim 2 further comprising means for temporarily retaining a severed portion of a bundle strap on said tool.

4. A tool as set forth in claim 2 further comprising means on said slide assembly for contacting said cutting lever during rearward movement of said slide assembly to cause said cutting lever handle portion to lie adjacent said manually graspable means.

STAtool asset frith in clafii 2 wherein said spring means is located between said graspable means and said handle means and disposed along a portion of said rail members.

6. A tool as set forth in claim 2 further comprising an anvil formed at the forward end of one "of said rail members and cooperable with said cutting lever for severing a strap therebetween.

7'. A tool as set forth in claim 6 furthercomprising a deflector plate on said slide assembly and located in the path of a bundle strap to deflect said strap away from said manually graspable means.

8. A tool as set forth in claim 7 further comprising stop means for limiting the extent of reciprocable movement of said slide assembly.

P0405" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent: No. 3,816,499 Dated Mav 14, 197i Inventor(S) DAVID VAN DIKE BENFER It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and" that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

On the title page in the heading, the Assignee was left out and it should read as follows:

Inventor: David Van Dike Benfer, l3l

Ridgeview Dr., Marysville, Pa.

Assignee: AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, PA

The Assignment was recorded under Reel 2940, Frames 587- Signed and sealed this 17th day of September 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

Co MARSHALL DANN McCOY M. GIBSON JR.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

1. A tool for applying a strap to a bundle of wires or the like, comprising a pair of elongated, generally parallel rail members, handle means formed at one end of said rail members, a slide assembly mounted on said rail members for reciprocable movement therealong, strap gripping means mounted on the forward portion of said slide assembly, manually graspable means formed on the rearward portion of said slide assembly and disposed forwardly of said handle means, spring means biasing said slide assembly to a forward position, and means disposed at the forward end of one of said rail members and positioned to engage a head portion of a bundle strap.
 2. A tool as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a cutting lever pivotally mounted on said rail members adjacent their forward end and having a handle portion located toward said graspable means.
 3. A tool as set forth in claim 2 further comprising means for temporarily retaining a severed portion of a bundle strap on said tool.
 4. A tool as set forth in claim 2 further comprising means on said rail members for contacting said cutting lever during forward movement of said slide assembly to cause said cutting lever handle portion to lie adjacent said manually graspable means.
 5. A tool as set forth in claim 2 wherein said spring means is located between said graspable means and said handle means and disposed along a portion of said rail members.
 6. A tool as set forth in claim 2 further comprising an anvil formed at the forward end of one of said rail members and cooperable with said cutting lever for severing a strap therebetween.
 7. A tool as set forth in claim 6 further comprising a deflector plate on said slide assembly and located in the path of a bundle strap to deflect said strap away from said manually graspable means.
 8. A tool as set forth in claim 7 further comprising stop means for limiting the extent of reciprocable movement of said slide assembly. 